Sides of the Coin
by Dark Wyvern
Summary: Dark Link and Link's thoughts on one another's deaths. (was originally titled The Death of the Light Twin)
1. The Death of the Light Twin

My hands…  Blackened with the blood of so many…

My breath was jerky, almost to the point of hyperventilation, as I looked at my hands.  These hands, which have killed so many, so very many…  But this…  My hands are stained with _his blood…_

Gannondorf had told me he wanted this boy dead.  I hadn't thought anything of it.  After all, in the five years I have been working for the King of Evil I have taken the lives of at least thirteen would-be heroes.  It had never bothered me before, for I'm a shadow demon; I was given life to serve King Gannondorf, to fulfill his desires (and he abuses this privilege periodically), and to follow his orders.  It had never before bothered me to fulfill his wishes, however psychotic or obscene they might be.

_But this boy…_

Thank the Goddesses King Gannondorf hadn't told me that this boy was… so like me.  My… my double.

I knelt down next to the fallen hero, stroking his face gently with my fingertips.  My touch left smears of blood along his ashen cheeks.  It was his blood, for I had forced my fingers into his neck, and that was really what defeated him; the loss of blood, and the pain from five puncture wounds in his tender neck.

He was dead… and by my own hand…  My own light twin…

A tear trickled involuntarily down my cheek, but I did not bother to brush it away.  I continued to stroke the boy's cheek, looking upon his beautiful young body.  Why was I crying?  This boy would have killed me without thinking twice if I had let him.  Why did it bother me?  Why must only the evil suffer?

The tears were streaming down my face at this point, but I made no attempt to stop them.  Why should I?  Instead, I fell to my knees next to his body, sobbing against his chest.  Goddesses forgive me for my actions!

His faerie still flitted about the room, its aura ashen and almost colorless.  Under other circumstances, had the body I held been that of any other warrior, I would have killed it, and prevented it from doing any mischief against me.  But I simply couldn't bring myself to do anything, not after I had killed my light half.

I knew I couldn't stay here any longer.  King Gannondorf expected a report, and his word is law.  I will always follow his orders… but how does one cope with something so horrific as this?


	2. The Death of the Dark Twin

A/N: I was debating whether I wanted to make these two chapters into two separate fanfics, but… yeah.  You know.  It's better to do it as one.  Anyway, this is Link's thoughts on Dark Link's death.

_The Death of the Dark Twin_

Who is this man I've just killed?  Why does it feel like I've killed a portion of my own soul by killing him?

Tears prickled underneath my eyelids, and I blinked them back.  I didn't want Navi to see me cry.  Why does it hurt so badly to see this… this monster dead, his purple-black blood staining the water around him?  Why does it feel like I've just killed my best friend?

I knelt by the body of Dark Link, the sub boss I had just killed.  I hadn't even bothered to clean his drying black blood off of my hands or my sword, regardless of how meticulously I normally cleaned the Master Sword.  I can't even understand why I'm crying.  He would have killed me without a second thought; I know he would have, because that's how bosses work…

I heard Navi calling for me to come, but I couldn't just yet.  I reached down and stroked the monster's cheek, running my hand over the features which were exactly like mine except for the color of his skin.  His hair, his skin, his lips all felt like my own.  The same tunic, the same boots, the same weapons.  _The same body…_

For some reason, a thought occurred to me: Who will mourn his death?

I have Saria, I have Ruto, I have Darunia, I have all my friends, all the people I can count on and who count on me.  But was there anyone who loved my black twin?  Was there anyone who was counting on him for something?

I didn't want to think about this.  If I started thinking about these monsters, how could I ever awaken all the Sages and defeat Gannondorf?  I can't crack now, I've come too far and accomplished too much…

Miserably, I dissolved into tears, sobbing like some little kid who had lost his favorite toy.  Why, oh why, oh _why was I crying over the monster I had just killed!  But I couldn't control myself, despite how stupid my weeping seemed and how much I tried to control it._

Navi flitted up next to me, making an alarmed ringing sound.  She cried out to know it I was okay, and what was wrong, but I barely heard her, and even if I had I couldn't have answered her.

I don't know how long I cried.  It might have been a minute, it might have been an hour.  I can't remember, and I really don't care.  All the while I held the body of the fallen monster against my own, trying desperately to figure out why this was hurting me so badly.

Navi eventually stopped me, flitting directly in front of my face and striking me between my eyes.  She demanded that I get up, that I continue with my quest, and why was I crying, damn you!  I didn't answer her, but I did at least stand up and curb my tears.

I never did tell Navi why I was so upset, and that was mostly because I never figured it out myself.

I had wanted to bury the body, but Navi, in one of her fits of frustrated rage, demanded that I stop wasting time and acting like a baby, and get on with the quest already.

With one last look at the corpse of my slain enemy, I walked toward the door. No matter what I did, the feeling that I was incomplete never left me.


End file.
